Spotlight: Robert DeLong

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To describe Robert DeLong as an electronic musician seems a bit unfair. Sure, his concerts include all the makings of any good EDM show: sweat, face paint, lights. But his music is much more complex than your typical womp-womps and untz-untz. After growing up in a house with a father who played the drums, DeLong gravitated toward the instrument, playing in several indie rock bands throughout high school and college. As he got older, he began experimenting with more electronic sounds, which slowly evolved into the unique brand of music that he’s so highly regarded for today. A truly eclectic mixture of drum beats, synth, vocals and remote-control-powered sound effects–DeLong is in a category of his own. And, he’s only 28 years old.

Hoping to catch DeLong live this summer? Head to BottleRock Napa Valley where he’ll perform alongside Outkast, The Cure, Weezer, and more. Use the code BOTTLEGEEK at checkout and save money on tickets.

We recently caught up with the musician over e-mail to ask about new material, life on the road, and his favorite Subway sandwich topping…

We know you’ve been touring a lot since Just Movement came out – have you had any time to work on new material since then?
Over the last couple months I’ve had some time to sort through a lot of the new material I have been working on, and demoing out some new songs, in addition to doing some co-writes and the like.

How does your live show translate from a 600-person, indoor venue to a massive outdoor festival?
It’s sort of a different experience in clubs as opposed to festival stages – in clubs you get to more intimately see all the stuff I am doing on stage, whereas at festivals it is more of a heavy and full-blown dance party. We have started integrating live-feeds from Go-Pros projected onto the large festival video walls during show, so hopefully the audience will be able to connect with all of movements and instrument performance even as they are very far away.

Do you ever get lonely on stage by yourself?
I love having full control of my terrible machine – truly, I am the only person who has any idea how the whole thing works and is set up, so I wouldn’t trust anyone else to mess around with it. That being said, I usually have one or two crew members in the corners of the stage I am always making faces at.

We know you’re a video game guy – who’s your favorite Mario Kart character and why?
You know, I’m not necessarily an avid gamer, but I do love Mario Kart, and I like Wario because he doesn’t turn too fast, so I have a better chance of not flying off of DK’s Jungle Parkway.

Aside from music, what are some things you do for fun?
I watch Star Trek (currently finishing up DS9), go out dancing (I love dark techno), read pop-science (currently reading “Everything That Can Happen Does Happen”), play Settlers of Catan, and run.